News Editor
michiel@nsnews.com

ONE of the Swingin’
Sixties best but most
commercially unsuccess-
ful British bands makes
a rare appearance in
Vancouver tonight at
The Yale.

THE Pretty Things bub-
bled up in England in the
mid-1960s, fired up red hot
by American R&B. Where the
Rolling Stones hitched their
wagen to Chuck Berry, The
Pretty Things took Bo
Diddley as their creative point
of departure. The band is
actually named after Diddley’s
1955 track, Pretty Thing.

They have the right pedi-
gree: some great albums; Ieg-
endary damaging stage shows,
hotel-room havoc; countless
convictions, and famous
friends.

The band fast played
Vancouver during the 1970s as
an opening act for Joe Welsh.

This year the band released
anew disc —- Rage Before
Beauty — 19 years in the mak-
ing.

According to Pretty Things
vocalist Phil May, the i
finding a new audience.

“Pretry fans tead to be fairly
" knowledgeable, but what's
happened i in the last five years
is that lots of quite young kids
have come to the music. I’m
“not always sure how.”
The band’s past albums ere
new available as re-issucs OF
the Snapper Music label. The
“development marks an end to
a period where the group had
no control over its catalogue.

Michael Becker

WOR TV

THE Pretty Things’ guitasist Dick Taylor and vocalist Phil May hit the stage in
Germany iast year fer a show with the band.

Said May, “We had a prob-
lem legally with a ‘ot of prod-
uct sort of getting pushed out
any time we had any kind of
profile.

“So in the end we had to
take some guys to court
because we were getting
screwed. They thought we
were after moncy — after
them for actually paying us,

but it was about being screwed

and having good albums over
the years and having them not
treated with respect. In the
end we got our masters back
and control of a bedy of work
we put 30-odd years into.”
Onc of them is 1968’s S.E
Sorrow. The hugely induential

contemporary
‘Extension’

‘Company

Folk - Band’;

concept album is an obscure
psychedeiic gem. It is arguably
the world’s first rock opera,
predating The Who's Tommy

y a year and The Kinks’
Preservation Act 1 by five
years.

S.E Sorrow saw a new life
last year with a live Internet
broadcast from Abbey Road
Studios, the place where it was
originally recorded.

Said i May, “We took over
Studio Two for a day-which _
was pretty amazing, spook
too. Te was like comin oH che
walls, When we actu:
recorded it (originally in
1968) we had the Floyd on
one side (recording Piper At

ion roup
‘Savary .-: Islan Pie
and Celtic

. band ‘Prydwen’. ;

BEACH AND PARK ACTIVITIES
“Demonstrations of stunt. bikes, “in-
dine: skating, . skateboarding, ‘model
_ airplanes and cars; beach volleyball;
‘Basketball:

4.on:4

ultimate; and:

“Foving street entertainment.

‘Sepuamber {2-18 ;
Shor Shere Dementiny School

theirsafmon art
al Shopping Centre,

The Gates of Dawn) and the
Beatles (the White Aljum) the
other. It was a weird energized
work environment where you
had three bands doing stuff
which to some extent wasn’t
in the popular vein. We used
to meet up in this room where
all they had was an automat
with this disgusting plastic
food. You'd put your money
in and this tray would come
out with food you'd imagine
they were giving spacemen.
We'd have these incredible
food fights. Lennon throwing,
it against the wall — it was
great.”

' West Vancouver
‘#019 Park Royal South

(Open 7 Days)

903-2999

Vancouver

IGiTAL QUALITY,

For just $26.00 per month you get 100 anytime minutes.
Additional minutes are just 26¢ each.

Best cheice for the highest network quality
and wide area coverage.

$100 BC Tel Nicbility bill credit witht any 96-month plan
{ofier ends on Labour Day).

B Infonned:. fom Sytem Fe S48 eps ON: Cancel on salen tin spp to cal ya ie ye

Friday, September 3, 1999 — North Shore News — 23

Tour starts in Vancouver -

From Page 22

”

Phish’s only Canadian stop on the fall tour is also its first —
Thursday ar GM Place in Vancouver.

“You've gotta start somewhere and it’s better to start in 2
corner I guess,” says McConnell.

The show will be the band’s first appearance here since 3
Nov. 23, 1996 date at the Pacific Coliseum. On previous trips,
the band played the Orpheum Theatre, Commodore Baliroom
and Eighty-Six Street Music Hall. The gradual progression to
bigger venues around the continent has happened without a hit
single or rack video.

‘The band’s fan base has grown exponentially with little mass-
marketing, despite being on music giant Warner’s Elektra label.

Phish’s live reputation has made ail the difference. Just like the
prototypical nomadic jam band the Gratefirl Dead, Phish plays

tor about three hours without an opening act. Fans, some of

whom criss-cross the continent to see Phish, are allowed to

record concerts and trade audio tapes. «

“We are very fortunate that we have a fan base that encour-
ages us to be experimental and do new things, which is what
most bands don’t have,” McConnell says. “They have a fan base
that really wants to hear that hit single.”

Phish formed in Burlington 16 years ago. The current iineup
was solidified in 1986 when guitarist Jeff Holdsworth left and
McConnell joined Anastasio, Gordon and drumnicr Jon
Fishman. The band’s sound encompasses a grab bag of styles
from jazz, bluegrass and rock to classical, calypso and barber-
shop. Yes, barbershop. McConnell, Fishman, Anastasio and
Gordon occasionally put down their instruments in mid-show to
sing in four-part harmony — a capella and unamplified.

The fali tour that kicks off in Vancouver continues Friday and
Saturday at the breathtaking Gorge Amphitheatre in central
Washington before heading down the coast and to points cast.

“That’s a beautiful site, one of our favourite outdoor
venues,” McConnell says.

Every summer the band stages mammoth concerts at rural
airports or Air Force bases in the eastern U.S. This year’s at
Oswego, N.Y. was in stark contrast to an infamous three-day
rock festival at another airfield.

be.

Woodstock 99 in Rome, N.Y. had arsons, bravdls or rapes.
Nothing like that happened at Phish’s fest.
appy to be going to our show and are rs

“People are really
there for one primary reason, to experience the music,”
McConneil says. “I’m just thankful we have that kind of crowd.”

Following the tour, Phish returns to the studio to record a
new album. Once that’s done, it’s time for yet another big
undertaking: 4 two-day New Year's Eve festival on the Big
Cypress Seminole Indian reservation in south Florida. Tickets
aren’t cheap ($153US each), but Phish is planning on a mid-
night- to-dawn marathon set to usher in 2000.

‘Geta.
Geta \
DIGITAL PHONE

PLUS $100

alrtime
credit

 feap to BC Tel Mobility :

BONUS

Trade ina competitor’ s cellular phone to get a Free : we |
Startac Digital Cell Phone and a Free leather case -

plus fh

fuchmond.

Paciic Plaza, #7300-0228 Odin Cres...

Casten & Gexien City)
656-2383

Long distance changes ind tans extra,